There I said it.
I hereby give you permission not to be on Pinterest. Feel better? Good.
I’ll bet that takes a heavy load off your back and saves you gobs and gobs of time.
You’re welcome. Here’s my Amazon Wish List, buy me something. 
Of course we’ve all heard that Pinterest is for women, guys don’t get Pinterest. I almost agree.
But I love Pinterest as a guy (https://pinterest.com/mikemueller/). I really do.
I search and peruse others boards and it makes me giddy as a schoolgirl when people repin and comment on my stuff. (ok, that came out really weird)
My favorite board (of mine) is one I started while looking at getting a new Mountain Bike. It consists of 13 Pins (bikes) and has almost 1,600 followers https://pinterest.com/mikemueller/help-me-pick-a-mt-bike/.
I have another board that is more of statement than anything else. https://pinterest.com/mikemueller/the-social-media-experts-worth-actually-paying/ it has 1,500 followers and I’ll let you guess how many pins.
My least popular board is the one I’m actually using to try and drive traffic to my site. It’s for blog posts. Everyday, when I post a new article I also take the featured image of that post and Pin it to https://pinterest.com/mikemueller/blog-posts/. In theory that should drive traffic back to me thereby creating more sales for what I do. I can emphatically say, it doesn’t.
Want to know why?
Pinterest isn’t about SEO, it’s about visualizing a specific lifestyle. As a person, or as a brand you have the ability to share that vision. If it’s appealing others will repin, comment, tweet and share that same vision of yours. If it’s not, that image will lay dormant and die from lack of exposure.
So here’s the thing.
Pinterest away if it makes you happy. That’s perfectly ok and much better than playing Farmville for hours on end. Knock your self out.
However. If you half assed listened to some sales webinar that told you HAD TO BE ON PINTEREST or your business was going to die. You have a choice to make.
1. Develop a well conceptualized plan in which you will create and maintain beautiful images that capture the attention of others and convey a sense of lifestyle as it directly relates to the product you sell.
or…
2. Spend your time and energy elsewhere doing and creating more worthwhile things. Period.
Go ahead and read #1 again, nice and slow. Does that make sense? Maybe not? Ok, how’s this instead.
My friend Ines has a Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/miamism/ She sells real estate in the Miami area (hence the Miamism) and as you might guess, she has a fair number of listings. Check out the boards that she’s maintaining. Items like Miami Architecture, Miami Views, Miami Landmarks, Design, Shores, Shoes, Cocktails and Shopping…
Hey wait a second! Where are the boards for each of her listings?
That’s right. She doesn’t have them. They don’t produce value. Not in leads, or referral traffic, or sales. Instead, she’s sharing the vision of what living in Miami would be like and she’s doing it well. She wants people to visualize themselves on a beautiful beach, after a wonderful day shopping, wearing fabulous shoes, sipping a Mojito and when they do, she wants them to think of only one thing. Miamism. See how that works?
There’s no shame in not being on Pinterest. Your business isn’t going to die if you don’t. I promise.
So make a choice. It’s all yours to make. Pinterest Well or Pinterest for yourself, or have a bunch of extra free time to do better things. Or as Yoda said, “Do or Do Not. There is No Try“.
May the force be with you!
* since time is money and I just saved you a bunch of time my fabulous wish list awaits! LOL!
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